Overhang of state elections keeps stock indexes volatile

Uncertainty of the outcome at the Group of 20 summit this week, including a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump that may give clarity on how the trade war will play out, has also prompted investors to take pause.

businessUpdated: Nov 27, 2018 11:36 IST

Nupur Acharya

Bloomberg, Mumbai

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was little changed at 35,365.74 as of 9:45 a.m. in Mumbai. The NSE Nifty 50 Index was at 10,622.90, falling less than 0.1 percent.(Bloomberg)

Indian stocks fluctuated as investors awaited the outcome of crucial state elections to gauge the political mood before national polls next year.

Uncertainty of the outcome at the Group of 20 summit this week, including a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump that may give clarity on how the trade war will play out, has also prompted investors to take pause.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was little changed at 35,365.74 as of 9:45 a.m. in Mumbai. The NSE Nifty 50 Index was at 10,622.90, falling less than 0.1 percent.

Votes in all the Indian state elections will be counted on December 11.

The numbers

Thirteen of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd. fell, led by the S&P BSE Metal Index, which dropped 1.5 percent.

A measure of information technology stocks gained the most. ITC Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. were the biggest drags on the benchmark index. Bajaj Auto Ltd. and Asian Paints Ltd. were the worst performers on the gauge.

Strategist view

“The biggest overhang on the market is the political outcome and till that is out of the way, we expect the market to be range bound,” said Sanjay Sinha, founder of Citrus Advisors in Mumbai.

“On the global front, the market is discounting any positive outcome from the Xi-Trump meeting. If the meeting doesn’t lead to a positive outcome, we may see a negative reaction.”